On Saturday 4th September at 5:45am, Michael, Divan and I launched “Lihann” off Richards Bay to fish for Garrick. The weather predictions were for strong NE winds from midday but there was a quiet period in the morning. We wanted to fish on the low tide was at 6:45am so we didn’t have much time to catch bait and get to the fishing spot.
Our first stop was at the shallow bait reef off the caravan park. We were lucky and managed to find some nice pinkies and a few small shad in a short space of time before heading north. The water was filthy near groenkop, so we headed towards Hlohbane river mouth. When we arrived, there were patches of off coloured water, but otherwise it looked good. Divan and I rigged a few pinkies and a shad while Michael worked south along the surfzone.
We made two drifts over the area without a single rev so we headed even further north to Dawsons bay. Again we rigged some livies and worked the area but without success so we continued south back to the river mouth. About half way between Hlobane and Dawsons, Divan saw a big swirl on the sea side of us and then a Garrick broke surface and chased a few baitfish. I grabbed a rod with a popper on it and let fly. The moment was obviously too big for me and I ended up with an overwind ... Epic Fail! I knew I needed to act quickly, so I wound over the knot and got the popper on the surface. Immediately the Garrick turned and chased the popper but did not want to eat it and turned away a few meters from the boat. The baits pulled through the area without a rev and we continued on our drift. At 11:30, we had had enough and decided to pull in the lines and head back along the backline and stop if we saw a good looking area. About a kilometre south, near kwambo ramp, we saw a patch of clean water with a bit of a rip. Divan and I put 3 baits in and michael worked the area.
As we came into the dirty water of the rip, the deep bait started revving wildly. Divan and I ran back and I got to the rod first and freespooled the bait. A few seconds later, the bait was eaten and I fed the fish for a while before hooking up. The fish came to the boat relatively quickly and after a few short runs next to the boat, Divan gaffed a 6kg Garrick. It had a lot of energy left and jumped around the deck while Divan tried to control it. The fish got a few good shots in before Divan could put it into the hatch.
The weather was deteriorating fast and Divan had to be back early for a wedding so we called it a day.
